


Touch-Starved

by Symphoenae



Series: Gift Fic Universe [7]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Give them a hug pls, mega fluff bro, the kids are touch-starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24516544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Symphoenae/pseuds/Symphoenae
Summary: There was a feeling that Rayla was feeling more and more often that she couldn’t quite describe. It burned within every inch of her body at the most inopportune times, and she hated every second of it. Moonshadow Elves were not known to be very open or vulnerable, and this stupid burning feeling was making her feel incredibly needy every time it came rampaging. It was annoying, and most definitely not something she needed to deal with right now.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Series: Gift Fic Universe [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1697743
Comments: 15
Kudos: 140





	Touch-Starved

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SammyWitchy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SammyWitchy/gifts).



> I will die on this hill defending this headcanon you can't tell me this shit isn't a thing. You cannot
> 
> Also I lowkey DO NOT LIKE THIS ONE SHOT BUT IM POSTING IT ANYWAYS CAUSE I PROMISED SAM I'D DT IT TO HER SO FUCK

There was a feeling that Rayla was feeling more and more often that she couldn’t quite describe. It burned within every inch of her body at the most inopportune times, and she hated every second of it. Moonshadow Elves were not known to be very open or vulnerable, and this stupid burning feeling was making her feel incredibly needy every time it came rampaging. It was annoying, and most definitely not something she needed to deal with right now. It had only been a week or two after the battle at the Storm Spire, where she and Callum had agreed to stay. Even Soren had stayed to join the new Dragonguard in an act of peace. Ezran had gone home back to Katolis, but he was far from alone. He had Opeli, Corvus, and even General Amaya had volunteered to travel back with him. She wouldn’t stay long, of course, as she had plans to travel back to Sunfire elf territory to work with soon to be Queen Janai and Kazi. Everything was winding down and starting up at the same time, and the weird middle ground left everyone with strange feelings.

That being said, Rayla would rather be feeling anything else than this. She hated feeling needy above anything else, and on top of that, she didn’t even know why she was feeling this way. She had no idea what her body was telling her it wanted. She, however, did know the one thing- more like, the one person- that could make the feeling ebb away. Yes, it was Callum. It was always Callum.

So recently she’d always seek out Callum whenever this feeling burned under her skin. Rayla wasn’t an idiot- anyone having a ‘feeling’ and it only went away when you were with your significant other would assume that one thing. You know that thing. But Rayla knew it was that. It wasn’t an urge to that degree- thankfully. Having a feeling like that would be so many levels of embarrassment at this point. It was innocent, but it still eluded her the specific reason for it. Well, she said eluded, it was more like she didn’t want to think about it. It was a vulnerability, and even if she was learning from Callum that being vulnerable was okay, the deep-seeded teachings of Moonshadow still took control of her most of the time.

But of course, Callum was observant. Especially when it came to her, he would pay attention even to the littlest things. He was sweet like that. But every time Rayla wormed her hand into his without warning, or caught him by surprise with a sudden hug, he simply accepted it without any questions. She didn’t know why he never said anything, but tonight she would get her answer.

The pair were cuddled together in their shared bed, in their shared room, which technically was only supposed to be Callum’s room, but neither of them liked the thought of sleeping apart anymore. Rayla was completely snuggled up against him, nose buried in his shoulder as her arms were wrapped tightly around his waist. Even in relaxation she’d be damned if she was going to let go of him, especially right now. Callum, on the other hand, had one hand holding a book open, while the other softly stroked Rayla’s head in between her horns. The book he was reading was given to him by Iblis, to help with his sky magic studies.

“I know you probably didn’t feel comfortable enough bringing it up as a topic to talk, but I understand anyways.” Callum said suddenly, assuming she was asleep.

Truth be told, she was a sliver away from falling asleep given the current situation she was in, but her curiosity egged her to stay awake. She didn’t reply, however, because she wasn’t sure if he would continue if he knew she wasn’t actually asleep. Instead, she simply enjoyed the sensation of his hand giving her hair gentle pets.

“I know it’s still hard for you to show vulnerability, and for that I didn’t bring it up. But I think I know what’s happening here.” Callum continued, setting the book down now and bringing his other hand to softly caress her exposed cheek.

Rayla would not admit just how good his tender touches felt, no she would not.

“Given what you’ve told me of your past, your childhood… your culture.” Callum continued carefully. “I have to assume that you were never given a lot of… physical contact. At least, not a lot of caring physical contact, if that makes any sense…”

_ Oh. _

“And it would seem to me that maybe you’re just a bit touch-starved. And that’s perfectly okay, because I get that. My mom would always be the one who’d give me hugs, a pat on the shoulder, something just to establish contact. And after she… died, stuff like that lessened. It would get lonely sometimes, and sometimes my body wouldn’t get enough. It’s normal to crave contact with another person. It’s just a little sad how we get to that point.”

Rayla got so upset at the thought of a lonely little Callum that she completely forgot that she was pretending to be asleep. “But that’s so  _ sad!  _ You didn’t deserve to feel like that.” She exclaimed, raising her head to look at him properly.

Callum nearly jumped out of his skin at the sudden response, his cheeks gaining a lovely shade of red. “O-oh, you were awake that whole time?”

Rayla, realizing her mistake, would find that her face suddenly matched Callum’s in color. She broke eye contact out of shy embarrassment, nodding slightly.

“W-well… I got used to it at a point. The less contact I got, I mean. At some point I realized I couldn’t expect to be coddled like that all of the time.” Callum continued with a stuttering voice, his eyes gazing up at the ceiling as he remembered back.

Rayla pouted. “I disagree whole-heartedly. You deserve to be coddled twenty-four seven. Specifically by me. But I am never going to admit that in public and you can’t make me.”

Callum snorted, before he fell into a peal of laughter at Rayla’s comment, his laughter coming out so strong he removed his hands from within Rayla’s personal space to clutch at his sides. Rayla, on the other hand, stared dumbly at his little laughter-fest, her eyes lingering lovingly on his shut eyes, his adorable smile, his nose wrinkling up in that one incredibly cute way-

And then in the back of her head, she registered that he’d taken his hands away. That was not acceptable. She demanded more head pats immediately. All of her hesitation about being vulnerable and needy was thrown out the window in this moment, and her hands shot out to capture his own, pulling them back to her side of the bed. Callum’s laughter stopped to make way for curious confusion, and his piercing green eyes softened as she determinedly brought his hands back to the top of her head with a  _ plop. _

Rayla knew her cheeks were burning red again at her silent admission, and Callum’s light chuckles about it weren’t helping either. But once again, he said nothing about it, and indulged her without hesitation. He still didn’t say anything when Rayla once again buried her face in his shoulder, trying to scoot her body as close to his as physically possible. One of her hands came to rest on his chest, right where his heart was, while the other curled under him to wrap around his waist again.

“I love you.” Came Rayla’s muffled voice, still quiet, still shy. It was still hard for her to be vulnerable, but she was learning.

Callum found a love-sick smile stretching across his face as he took in her welcomed words, as he tilted his head a bit to nuzzle the side of it against her cheek.

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> I don't like it. It feels so forced on my end. I started this and a few paragraphs in I didn't want to write anymore. But I forced myself to finish it because if I keep giving up like this I'll never have the motivation to do anything ever again. I don't know what that says about my mental state right now but I'm just fucking vibing in the void ig
> 
> Anyways feel free to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. All use the username @Symphoenae cause I'm unoriginal


End file.
